270: Family Legend - This American Life
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00:00 00:00 Transcript Share This American Life Life Partners How to Listen Episodes Recommended About Overview Staff Announcements Fellowships Jobs Music Make Radio On The Road FAQ Submissions Merch Contact Us Our Other Shows Merch Follow Us Life Partners Subscribe to our newsletter Full episode Toggle Audio and Transcript Sync Transcript | Episode #270 | July 29, 2005 270: Family Legend Note: This American Life is produced for the ear and designed to be heard.
00:00 00:00 文字记录 分享此 美国生活 生活伙伴 如何收听 剧集 推荐 关于 概述 员工公告 奖学金 工作 音乐 在路上制作电台 常见问题解答 提交 商品 联系我们 我们的其他节目 商品 关注我们 生活伙伴 订阅我们的时事通讯 整集 切换音频和文字记录同步 文字记录 | 内容第 270 集 | 2005 年 7 月 29 日 270：家族传奇 注：《美国生活》是为耳朵而制作的，旨在让人们听到。
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如果可以的话，我们强烈建议您收听音频，其中包括页面上没有的情感和重点。
Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.
文字记录是使用语音识别软件和人工转录员结合生成的，可能包含错误。
Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.
请在印刷版引用前检查相应的音频。
Prologue Ira Glass In Eddie's family, there are lots of stories about his mom's aunt, Mary.
序言 艾拉·格拉斯 在艾迪的家里，有很多关于他妈妈的姨妈玛丽的故事。
Nobody wanted to cross her.
没有人想得罪她。
She said what she felt, and did what she wanted.
她说她的感受，做她想做的事。
She'd open the Christmas present that you gave her and tell you right then, right to your face-- no, this is too small, this is inappropriate.
她会打开你送给她的圣诞礼物，然后当面告诉你——不，这太小了，这是不合适的。
My parents claim that she would drive up and down the Garden State Parkway and take the azalea bushes off the side of the freeway, and take them home.
我的父母声称她会开车在花园州公路上来回走动，把高速公路边的杜鹃花丛摘下来，然后带回家。
Because she felt that they were free.
因为她觉得他们是自由的。
She said, "Oh, they're just growing on the road!"
她说：“哦，它们只是在路上成长而已！”
And we tried to explain to her, no, Aunt Mary, they're not growing, just growing there wild, you know-- someone planted them there.
我们试图向她解释，不，玛丽阿姨，它们不是生长的，只是野生的，你知道的——有人把它们种在那里。
And then she would try to make excuses-- well, she only took a little piece of the plant, she didn't take the whole thing, there was plenty more there.
然后她会试图找借口——好吧，她只拿走了植物的一小部分，她没有拿走整个植物，那里还有更多。
There was the time she invited the family to dinner but didn't want to cook a chicken in the middle of a hot summer day.
有一次，她邀请家人吃饭，但不想在炎热的夏日煮鸡肉。
So, she cooked it in the morning, covered it with a piece of newspaper, and left it sitting in the attic.
所以，她早上把它煮熟，用一张报纸盖住它，然后把它放在阁楼上。
All day.
一整天。
Nobody wanted to take a bite, but you didn't argue with Aunt Mary.
没人想咬一口，但你没有和玛丽阿姨争论。
And then there was her laugh.
然后就是她的笑声。
Eddie Schmidt Aunt Mary had a tremendous cackle.
埃迪·施密特 玛丽姨妈哈哈大笑。
It really was like a sort of room-stopping sound that as a kid she always appeared to me like sort of the joker from the Batman TV show.
这真的就像一种让房间停止的声音，小时候她在我看来总是像蝙蝠侠电视节目中的小丑一样。
Here's Eddie's dad.
这是艾迪的爸爸。
Bob Schmidt That laugh was very strange, too.
鲍勃·施密特 那笑声也很奇怪。
[LAUGHS] So, a cross between The Riddler and The Wicked Witch of the West.
[笑] 所以，这是《谜语人》和《西方邪恶女巫》的结合体。
But she wasn't necessarily trying to be funny.
但她并不一定是想搞笑。
She would just say something crazy, and then you would laugh at her laughing.
她只会说一些疯狂的话，然后你就会嘲笑她。
You weren't laughing at what she said, you're just laughing at her laughing because it was ridiculous.
你不是在笑她所说的话，你只是在笑她的笑，因为这太荒谬了。
Aunt Mary lived with her second husband, Uncle Vito, under one roof, but separately.
玛丽姨妈和她的第二任丈夫维托叔叔住在同一屋檐下，但分开居住。
They slept in separate beds, ate food from separate refrigerators.
他们睡在不同的床上，吃不同冰箱里的食物。
Uncle Vito had a refrigerator of his own in the garage and Aunt Mary had her refrigerator in the kitchen.
维托叔叔在车库里有一台自己的冰箱，玛丽阿姨在厨房里有她的冰箱。
And that came about how?
那是怎么发生的呢？
Eddie Schmidt I guess Aunt Mary did not really care for Uncle Vito's children, her stepchildren.
埃迪·施密特：我猜玛丽姨妈并不真正关心维托叔叔的孩子，她的继子。
And so she put a padlock on the refrigerator in their house, so as to keep Vito's children out of it.
于是她在家里的冰箱上装了一把挂锁，以免维托的孩子们接触到它。
And so Uncle Vito decided that it would just be easier to keep his own set of food and drink in the garage.
因此，维托叔叔决定将自己的食物和饮料放在车库里会更容易。
And beyond that, he I guess actually built his own sort of, like, Italian, manly palace in the garage, where he had a couch, and a television showing sports games, and, you know, a little rug.
除此之外，我猜他实际上在车库里建造了自己的那种意大利式的男子气概的宫殿，在那里他有一张沙发，一台播放体育比赛的电视，还有，你知道的，还有一张小地毯。
And that was his sanctuary.
那是他的避难所。
And whenever we went there, whenever there was a spread on the table, we were always very nervous about which food would you take.
每当我们去那里，每当桌子上有丰盛的食物时，我们总是非常紧张你要吃哪种食物。
Because it might be all out there together, but there would be always a back and forth about which food you should be selecting.
因为它们可能都在一起，但对于您应该选择哪种食物总是会来来回回。
The two of them, they kind of would compete with each other.
他们两个人，简直就是互相竞争。
It was sort of like a little hosting duel.
这有点像一场小型的主持决斗。
I remember that Aunt Mary would say to my father, "Hey, would you like a beer?" And you couldn't refuse Aunt Mary, so he would say, sure.
我记得玛丽阿姨会对我父亲说：“嘿，你想喝啤酒吗？”你不能拒绝玛丽阿姨，所以他会说，当然。
Aunt Mary would offer you a beer.
玛丽阿姨会给你一杯啤酒。
And Uncle Vito would look, and-- "Have one of my beers." And Uncle Vito would be, "I have some Miller in my refrigerator, in a bottle." And Aunt Mary would place this rusty beer can in front of you, with some store brand beer.
维托叔叔会看着，然后——“喝一瓶我的啤酒。”维托叔叔会说：“我的冰箱里有一些装在瓶子里的米勒。”玛丽阿姨会把这个生锈的啤酒罐放在你面前，里面装着一些商店品牌的啤酒。
And there was actual rust on the can.
罐子上确实生锈了。
She'd give him a beer, and it would have rust on the top.
她给他一杯啤酒，啤酒的顶部已经生锈了。
And it was like a really old, cheap beer.
它就像一种非常古老、廉价的啤酒。
I mean, let's just hold the story right there, and consider what is being said here.
我的意思是，让我们先把这个故事放在那里，考虑一下这里所说的内容。
The way this family's story goes, she handed out beers so old that the can was rusted.
这个家庭的故事是这样的，她分发的啤酒太旧了，罐子都生锈了。
And the story's been told so many times that that has basically become fact.
这个故事已经被讲了很多次了，这基本上已经成为事实。
But even though that is possible-- there were still some steel beer cans back in the seventies when all this takes place-- how likely is that?
但即使这是可能的——七十年代这一切发生时仍然有一些钢制啤酒罐——这种可能性有多大？
Is that really something to be believed?
这真的值得相信吗？
You know, I do.
你知道，我知道。
You know why?
你知道为什么吗？
Because my mom describes her Aunt Mary's hygienic habits around her own home, in that she never used soap to wash dishes.
因为我妈妈描述了她玛丽阿姨在她家周围的卫生习惯，因为她从不使用肥皂洗碗。
Ever.
曾经。
She'd just rinse them.
她只是冲洗它们。
And she let her dog, you know, lick all the dishes.
她让她的狗，你知道，舔了所有的盘子。
And the one time that my mother--
有一次我妈妈——
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
等等，等等，等等，等等。
Again, I say-- now I know that that's the story that's told in your home and it's a family legend.
我再说一遍——现在我知道这就是你家里流传的故事，这是一个家庭传奇。
But is that actually a believable story?
但这真的是一个可信的故事吗？
Well, I think it is.
嗯，我想是的。
Because my mother was so horrified one time at the prospect that the dishes weren't really washed with soap, that she went under the sink to find dish detergent.
因为有一次，我母亲一想到碗碟并不是真的用肥皂洗的，就感到非常震惊，她到水槽下面去找洗碗精。
And when she did, she opened the container and started pouring it into the dishwasher, and rust came out.
当她这样做时，她打开容器并开始将其倒入洗碗机中，生锈了。
And so--
所以——
Again!
再来一次！
Eddie Schmidt I think there's a lot of rust.
埃迪·施密特 我认为有很多生锈的地方。
Again, I say that's a really great story that you guys tell each other.
我再说一遍，你们互相讲述的故事真的很棒。
But first of all, detergent can't turn into rust, because detergent isn't actually metal.
但首先，清洁剂不会变成铁锈，因为清洁剂实际上不是金属。
Well, no-- I mean sure, there's probably some exaggeration.
嗯，不——我的意思是，这可能有些夸张。
But there's so many Aunt Mary stories that are equally outrageous, if not more outrageous, that I can't help but believe that there is certainly more than a kernel of truth in these details.
但有太多玛丽阿姨的故事同样令人愤慨，甚至更令人愤慨，我不禁相信这些细节中肯定有更多的真相。
And that, I guess, is exactly the point.
我想，这正是重点。
It's hard not to exaggerate these stories.
很难不夸大这些故事。
In any family, there are certain stories that get told over and over.
在任何家庭中，都会有一些被反复讲述的故事。
And other stories that are never talked about.
还有其他从未被谈论过的故事。
They explain who's who in the family, they keep the pecking order in order.
他们解释家庭中的谁是谁，他们保持有序的啄食顺序。
Well, from WBEZ Chicago, it's This American Life.
嗯，来自 WBEZ 芝加哥，这是《This American Life》。
I'm Ira Glass.
我是艾拉·格拉斯。
Today in our program, family legends.
今天我们的节目是家庭传奇。
In our show, family members compare notes about stories that they've been kicking around for years, or have been completely suppressing, and try to figure out the truth behind the stories-- what really happened.
在我们的节目中，家庭成员就他们多年来一直流传或完全压抑的故事交换意见，并试图找出故事背后的真相——到底发生了什么。
Act One, Take My Cheese, Please.
第一幕，请拿走我的奶酪。
In that act, we hear the greatest Aunt Mary story of all Aunt Mary stories.
在那一幕中，我们听到了所有玛丽阿姨故事中最伟大的玛丽阿姨故事。
Act Two, We Don't Talk About That.
第二幕，我们不谈论这个。
In that story, a guy tries to figure out a mystery that's nearly a century old about his own family.
在那个故事中，一个人试图解开一个关于他自己家庭的近一个世纪的谜团。
Act Three, Admissions.
第三幕，招生。
In that story, a mom, two daughters, and the worst acceptance letter in the history of college admissions.
在那个故事中，一个母亲、两个女儿和大学招生史上最糟糕的录取通知书。
Act One.
第一幕。
So, let's pick up again with Eddie Schmidt and his mother and father.
那么，让我们再次关注埃迪·施密特和他的父母。
Eddie's sister, Lori, figures in the story at a key point.
艾迪的妹妹洛瑞在故事的关键时刻扮演了角色。
The setting-- the whole family, plus Eddie's Uncle John and Aunt Vivian, were at Aunt Mary's for a meal.
整个家庭，加上埃迪的约翰叔叔和薇薇安婶婶，都在玛丽婶婶家吃饭。
I remember, you know, Aunt Mary setting out the whole spread, and a lot of, you know, cold cuts and salami and pepperoni and cheeses.
我记得，你知道，玛丽阿姨摆出了所有的菜品，还有很多，你知道的，冷盘、萨拉米香肠、意大利辣香肠和奶酪。
And I guess there were two different kinds of cheese from which you could choose.
我想你可以选择两种不同的奶酪。
Somehow, Uncle Vito's cheese, the nicer cheese, provolone, had found its way onto the table.
不知何故，维托叔叔的奶酪，更好的奶酪，波伏洛干酪，已经登上了餐桌。
And maybe something that we didn't always get at home too often.
也许是我们在家里不常得到的东西。
But Aunt Mary was very insistent that we choose one kind of cheese, the American cheese.
但玛丽阿姨非常坚持要我们选择一种奶酪，即美国奶酪。
Lori was really wanting the different cheese.
洛瑞真的很想要不同的奶酪。
I think Uncle Vito had something that looked much more appealing to a little girl and she asked me if she could have it.
我认为维托叔叔有一些看起来对小女孩更有吸引力的东西，她问我是否可以拥有它。
As I went to reach for it, Aunt Mary did not want me to have that cheese.
当我伸手去拿奶酪时，玛丽阿姨不想让我吃奶酪。
And she said, oh no, Lori should have this cheese.
她说，哦不，洛瑞应该吃这种奶酪。
You know, this is good cheese, I bought this for her.
你知道，这是很好的奶酪，我给她买的。
And so she did not want to give her Uncle Vito's cheese.
所以她不想给她维托叔叔的奶酪。
And Lori, not being old enough to know that you don't cross Aunt Mary, was very insistent about having what she wanted, and she did make a little bit of a fuss.
洛瑞年纪还小，不知道自己不会得罪玛丽阿姨，但她非常坚持要得到她想要的东西，而且她确实有点小题大做。
And so I said, oh no, Lori, this is the cheese, this is good cheese.
所以我说，哦不，洛瑞，这是奶酪，这是好奶酪。
This is the yellow cheese, this is the kind you like.
这是黄色的奶酪，这是你喜欢的那种。
Aunt Mary picked this out specially for you.
玛丽阿姨特意为你挑选了这个。
And Lori got the cheese Aunt Mary wanted her to have.
洛瑞得到了玛丽阿姨想要她吃的奶酪。
She did not get Uncle Vito's cheese.
她没有得到维托叔叔的奶酪。
Uncle John and I thought it was ridiculous to have something put out on the table that someone couldn't have, so we passed a look.
约翰叔叔和我觉得把别人得不到的东西放在桌子上是很荒谬的，所以我们就看了一眼。
You know, we rolled our eyes a little bit to each other behind Aunt Mary's back, we thought.
你知道，我们在玛丽阿姨背后互相翻了个白眼，我们想。
Thinking, oh my god, what an issue over something so ridiculous.
心想，天哪，这么荒唐的事情真是一个问题。
Now, do you remember this look that your Uncle John and your mom passed between them?
现在，你还记得你的约翰叔叔和你妈妈之间的眼神吗？
I don't remember any shared glance.
我不记得有任何共同的目光。
And my mom says that if there was, she can only think, in retrospect, that that's sort of the maximum gesture that they would have shared between each other.
我妈妈说，如果有的话，回想起来，她只能认为这是他们彼此之间所能分享的最大的姿态。
Because Aunt Mary was so, you know, owl-eyed.
你知道，因为玛丽姨妈的眼睛是猫头鹰般的。
At the most, they had a split second sustained eye contact.
他们最多只有一瞬间的持续目光接触。
That's it.
就是这样。
And then after that, nothing else happens that day, no more fights, no more comment-- that's it?
然后在那之后，那天没有发生任何其他事情，没有更多的争吵，没有更多的评论——就这样？
Nothing else happens.
没有其他事情发生。
And we spend the afternoon and we return back home to Staten Island.
我们度过了一个下午，然后返回斯塔滕岛的家。
That's it.
就是这样。
A few days after we had visited, Aunt Mary called up.
我们拜访几天后，玛丽阿姨打来电话。
And I thought that was unusual.
我认为这很不寻常。
Usually if we had seen her, we wouldn't hear from her again for a month or so.
通常，如果我们见到她，大约一个月左右就不会再收到她的消息。
Anyway, she proceeded to tell me this whole story about this dream she had about Uncle John and I.
不管怎样，她继续告诉我关于她梦见约翰叔叔和我的整个故事。
She said we were laughing at her about the cheese.
她说我们在嘲笑她关于奶酪的事。
And this dream was reality to her, and she really thought we slapped her in the face by laughing at her.
这个梦对她来说是现实，她真的认为我们嘲笑她是打她的脸。
And we really had hurt her feelings.
我们确实伤害了她的感情。
And she was very distraught and crying.
她非常心烦意乱，哭了。
I mean, I was flabbergasted.
我的意思是，我大吃一惊。
Because I wouldn't think I could hurt her feelings, you know, as a hard person, a tough person.
因为我认为我不会伤害她的感情，你知道，作为一个坚强的人，一个坚强的人。
When I knew she cried, that that's how much it upset her-- and I really felt terrible.
当我知道她哭了时，她感到非常难过——我真的感觉很糟糕。
So although we didn't feel we did anything wrong, I did apologize to her.
所以虽然我们不觉得自己做错了什么，但我还是向她道歉了。
And she seemed to accept it.
而她似乎也接受了这一点。
And we never heard about it again.
我们再也没有听说过这件事。
So a few years after this, Aunt Mary passes away and my family, my whole extended family, gets together for the reading of the will.
几年后，玛丽阿姨去世了，我的家人，我的整个大家庭，聚在一起宣读了遗嘱。
And Aunt Marian is my mom's youngest sister, is actually the executor of the will.
而玛丽安阿姨是我妈妈最小的妹妹，实际上是遗嘱的执行人。
So she gets to read the will to everybody that's there.
所以她可以向在场的每个人宣读遗嘱。
And to everyone's great surprise, Aunt Mary actually had $100,000 with which to will.
令所有人大吃一惊的是，玛丽阿姨实际上有 10 万美元可以用来遗嘱。
Aunt Mary had been really cheap her whole life, and I guess would-- if you were there for a meal, she would rip a paper napkin in half and give you half to use as your napkin.
玛丽阿姨一生都很吝啬，我想会的——如果你在那里吃饭，她会把一张餐巾纸撕成两半，给你一半作为餐巾。
And she would rinse her underwear out in the sink when on a trip.
旅行时，她会在水槽里冲洗内衣。
So she'd just have one pair of underwear she'd have for the whole trip.
所以她在整个旅程中只需要一件内衣。
So no one could possibly imagine that she had all this money.
所以没有人能想象她有这么多钱。
But I guess from being so frugal, she had actually saved.
但我猜她这么节俭，实际上还是存了钱。
I'm just biting my tongue here about that story-- about the underwear, about the actual truth of that story.
对于那个故事，关于内衣，关于那个故事的真实情况，我只是忍住不说。
I don't know, my father maintains that he saw her washing her underwear out in the sink, so.
我不知道，我父亲坚称他看到她在水槽里洗内衣，所以。
Well, sure.
嗯，当然。
Sure, you're on a trip, like, sometimes you run out of underwear and you have to wash one out in the sink.
当然，你在旅行时，有时你的内衣用完了，你必须在水槽里洗掉一件。
But that's different than, you own one pair of underwear for a week long trip, and you just wash it out over and over because you're too cheap to buy more than one pair.
但这与你在为期一周的旅行中拥有一件内衣不同，你只是一遍又一遍地清洗它，因为你太便宜了，买不了多条。
Well, again.
好吧，再来一次。
See, you would think that that's just kind of a crazy story.
你看，你可能会认为这只是一个疯狂的故事。
But then they said that after she died and they had to go through her things, they found cupboards full of underwear in plastic that she'd never touched.
但后来他们说，在她死后，他们不得不检查她的东西，他们发现橱柜里装满了她从未碰过的塑料内衣。
OK, but anyway, your point stands.
好吧，但无论如何，你的观点是成立的。
She was very cheap.
她很便宜。
So she had actually amassed $100,000 with which to will.
所以她实际上已经积累了 10 万美元用于遗嘱。
And she had ten nieces and nephews.
她有十个侄女和侄子。
And so $10,000 for each.
所以每人 10,000 美元。
Marian started reading for us and started going down the list.
玛丽安开始为我们朗读，并开始顺着清单往下看。
Teddy and Johnny, those were two of my cousins, would be getting $10,000 apiece.
泰迪和约翰尼是我的两个表兄弟，每人将获得 10,000 美元。
Marian and Nick would be getting $10,000 apiece.
玛丽安和尼克每人将获得 10,000 美元。
And she went through the list, and when it came to Vivian and John and Dad and I, the money was not to be given to us.
她仔细检查了清单，当涉及到维维安、约翰、爸爸和我时，这笔钱不应该给我们。
It would be set aside for our children in trust.
它将为我们的孩子留出信托。
We would not be allowed to touch it.
我们不被允许碰它。
When we heard this, we were flabbergasted.
当我们听到这句话时，我们都惊呆了。
We couldn't understand it.
我们无法理解。
We argued with Marian, we were very angry, very embarrassed.
我们和玛丽安争吵，我们非常生气，非常尴尬。
And then we started-- after arguing and yelling-- then we started crying.
然后我们开始——在争吵和大喊大叫之后——然后我们开始哭泣。
I just couldn't understand.
我就是不明白。
Why would Aunt Mary do that to me?
玛丽阿姨为什么要这样对我？
I was the good niece.
我是好侄女。
I was the only niece that went to visit Aunt Mary.
我是唯一去看望玛丽阿姨的侄女。
And we knew that we had cousins who hadn't spoken to Aunt Mary in maybe ten years.
我们知道我们的表兄弟姐妹可能已经十年没有和玛丽阿姨说过话了。
So, you know, we kept saying, why everybody else?
所以，你知道，我们一直在说，为什么其他人呢？
Why are we being singled out?
为什么我们会被单独挑出来？
What are we being punished for?
我们因什么而受到惩罚？
Only after going through the full gamut of emotions from embarrassment, to humiliation, to tears, to anger, were they even able to process and think-- could it really be the cheese?
只有在经历了从尴尬、到羞辱、到眼泪、到愤怒的全部情绪之后，他们才能够处理和思考——这真的是奶酪吗？
Could it really be?
真的可以吗？
And then they had to think, well, there was nothing else.
然后他们不得不想，好吧，没有别的了。
It hadn't been that many years previous that the whole cheese incident came up.
整个奶酪事件发生在几年前。
In probably my whole lifetime, that was the only time I remember making Aunt Mary cry.
大概在我的一生中，那是我记得唯一一次让玛丽阿姨哭。
And so as John and I said, oh my god, it must have been the cheese.
正如约翰和我所说，天哪，一定是奶酪的问题。
That's the only thing we ever did that really caused her to be upset with us.
这是我们做过的唯一一件事真正让她对我们感到不安。
Yeah, my read on it is that Aunt Mary-- who is really a tough cookie, a tough woman, who I think didn't really show her emotions-- I think because she had this crazy dream where she was humiliated and laughed at for not giving the good cheese to my sister, I think that it made her so vulnerable.
是的，我读到的是玛丽阿姨——她真的是一个坚强的人，一个坚强的女人，我认为她并没有真正表现出她的情感——我想因为她做了一个疯狂的梦，她因为没有给我妹妹好奶酪而受到羞辱和嘲笑，我认为这让她变得如此脆弱。
I mean, my mom says it was the only time that she ever, ever heard her cry.
我的意思是，我妈妈说这是她唯一一次听到她哭。
And so I think Aunt Mary-- that that well of emotions came out.
所以我认为玛丽阿姨——那种情绪已经流露出来了。
And I think she felt really angry that someone could make her question what she'd choose to do, and put her in that kind of position.
我认为她真的很生气，因为有人让她质疑她会选择做什么，并将她置于那样的境地。
That, I guess, she just never forgot that she had been exposed that way.
我想，她只是从来没有忘记自己曾以这种方式暴露过。
You know, when you say it like that, actually, I feel like I actually kind of understand it.
你知道，当你这么说时，实际上，我觉得我真的有点理解了。
Like the dream that she had-- I mean, she was right.
就像她所做的梦一样——我的意思是，她是对的。
Your mom and your uncle, they were laughing at her.
你妈妈和你叔叔，他们在嘲笑她。
Actually, she was sensing something that was real.
事实上，她感觉到了一些真实的东西。
And of course it made her feel really, really bad.
当然，这让她感觉非常非常糟糕。
Right.
正确的。
Well, and I think a different kind of person-- it might have been like, this small thing could have been a revelation where they changed the way they are.
嗯，我认为不同类型的人可能会这样，这件小事可能是一个启示，他们改变了自己的方式。
But I think for her, that was not going to happen.
但我认为对她来说，这不会发生。
What's the role of this story in your family?
这个故事在你的家庭中扮演什么角色？
Is this one of the ones that gets told over and over?
这是被一遍又一遍讲述的事情之一吗？
Yes.
是的。
Yeah, this story, it's on the greatest hits.
是的，这个故事最热门。
And actually at the time-- during the day, during the time that cheese happened at lunch-- nobody even thought about it afterwards.
事实上，在当时——白天，在午餐时吃奶酪的那段时间——事后甚至没有人想到这件事。
And the story was not shared at all.
而且这个故事根本没有被分享。
But it only really became this big story to share over and over again because Aunt Mary took it to heart.
但这只是因为玛丽阿姨牢记在心，才真正成为一个需要一遍又一遍地分享的大故事。
And, you know, paid everybody back.
而且，你知道，回报了所有人。
And, if anything, I think it probably makes all the sort of odd, funny things about her that we talked about earlier on become even bigger, as well.
而且，如果有的话，我认为这可能也会让我们之前讨论过的关于她的所有奇怪、有趣的事情变得更加严重。
Oh wow.
哦哇。
You're saying because of the cheese and the will, that's what leads to all the other stories.
你是说因为奶酪和意志，这就是导致所有其他故事的原因。
Well, yeah.
嗯，是的。
It's almost like you're trying to sleuth out why it happened.
这几乎就像你试图找出它发生的原因。
So you start going back to the beginning-- going, oh OK, well she was always eccentric.
所以你开始回到起点——哦，好吧，好吧，她总是很古怪。
And we were always intimidated by her.
我们总是被她吓倒。
And then there are probably other funny family stories.
然后可能还有其他有趣的家庭故事。
But the Aunt Mary stories take on this whole life of their own.
但玛丽阿姨的故事却有着自己的一生。
What's so interesting is that if, in fact, she was doing this as an act of spite and to get the last word, it's so misplaced.
有趣的是，如果事实上她这样做是出于恶意，是为了得到最后的决定，那就大错特错了。
Because of course you don't get the last word.
因为当然你没有得到最后一句话。
The living absolutely get the last word in every possible way.
生者绝对是百般掌握最终决定权的。
Right, although you do get lionized with some amusing qualities.
是的，尽管你确实因为一些有趣的品质而受到崇拜。
This is what I'm talking about.
这就是我要说的。
You start with one $10,000 bequest, and before you know it, people are saying that you only owned one pair of underwear.
你从一笔 10,000 美元的遗赠开始，在你意识到之前，人们就说你只拥有一件内衣。
Right.
正确的。
We get the last word, but there can be no rebuttal.
我们有最后的发言权，但不能反驳。
Eddie Schmidt, and his mother and father, Josie and Bob Schmidt.
埃迪·施密特和他的父母乔西·施密特和鲍勃·施密特。
[MUSIC - "Now Mary" by The White Stripes]
[音乐 - 白条纹乐队的《Now Mary》]
Some family stories are notable mostly because of their absence.
有些家庭故事之所以引人注目，主要是因为他们的缺席。
That they're too disturbing or too scandalous for anyone to ever acknowledge.
他们太令人不安或太可耻，以至于任何人都无法承认。
Kevin O'Leary's family specializes in stories like that.
凯文·奥利里 (Kevin O'Leary) 的家人专门研究此类故事。
My great grandfather had this Edison Amberola A-1 phonograph player.
我的曾祖父有一台 Edison Amberola A-1 留声机。
Its cabinet is made of carved mahogany and a brass crank sticks out from the right side.
它的柜子是由雕刻的桃花心木制成的，一个黄铜曲柄从右侧伸出。
Inside there are four drawers, each holding 25 Edison Gold Moulded recordings.
里面有四个抽屉，每个抽屉里放着 25 张爱迪生金模唱片。
The recordings are tubular wax cylinders, about the size of an empty roll of toilet paper.
这些录音是管状蜡筒，大小与空卫生纸卷差不多。
Each one has a cardboard sleeve with a picture of Thomas A.
每件都有一个纸板套，上面印有 Thomas A.
Edison on its side.
爱迪生站在一边。
Here's how it works.
这是它的工作原理。
You open the door, pull out a drawer, take a wax cylinder from its sleeve, insert it horizontally onto the player, turn the crank a little bit, and place the needle on the spinning cylinder.
你打开门，拉出一个抽屉，从套筒中取出一个蜡筒，将其水平插入播放器上，稍微转动曲柄，然后将针放在旋转的蜡筒上。
[MUSIC] For three decades this Edison sat in my grandparents house in Iowa, which is where I first saw it.
[音乐] 三十年来，这个爱迪生一直坐在我位于爱荷华州的祖父母家里，那是我第一次看到它的地方。
I used to ask about it all the time, but no one would ever play it.
我以前一直问这个，但没人玩。
It initially belonged to my great-grandfather, my grandfather's dad, who bought it in 1911.
它最初属于我的曾祖父，即我祖父的父亲，他于 1911 年买下了它。
He was 28-years-old at the time and he and his young wife, my great-grandmother, lived in Council Bluffs.
他当时 28 岁，和他年轻的妻子（我的曾祖母）住在康瑟尔布拉夫斯。
It was exactly the kind of thing a well-to-do family would have in those days-- a little like having a Steinway in the living room.
这正是当时富裕家庭所拥有的东西——有点像客厅里有一架施坦威。
The same year my great-grandfather bought the phonograph, my great-grandmother gave birth to their only child, my grandfather.
同年我的曾祖父买了留声机，我的曾祖母生下了他们唯一的孩子，我的祖父。
I know this now, but I didn't before, growing up.
我现在知道了这一点，但在成长过程中我以前不知道。
Whenever I would ask about the Edison or my great-grandfather, or any related history, all I got were shrugs and silence.
每当我询问爱迪生或我的曾祖父，或任何相关的历史时，我得到的只是耸耸肩和沉默。
My grandfather would never discuss his parents, so his kids-- my mom and my uncles Jim and John-- literally had no idea who their dad's dad was.
我的祖父永远不会谈论他的父母，所以他的孩子——我的妈妈和我的叔叔吉姆和约翰——实际上不知道他们的父亲的父亲是谁。
They didn't know where he was born, or what he did for a living, or what he looked like, or even his name.
他们不知道他出生在哪里，也不知道他以什么为生，也不知道他长什么样，甚至不知道他的名字。
I have no knowledge of him at all.
我对他一无所知。
Any more than I think my brothers do.
比我想象的我的兄弟们做的还要多。
Nobody ever talked about him, nobody ever said anything about him, and nobody ever showed us any pictures about him.
没有人谈论过他，没有人说过任何关于他的事情，也没有人给我们看过任何关于他的照片。
If the man was to walk into this room right now, I'd never know who he was.
如果这个人现在走进这个房间，我永远不会知道他是谁。
Evidently there was something that wasn't either on the up and up, or done like it was supposed to.
显然，有些事情要么没有按计划进行，要么没有按照预期进行。
Or somebody in-married or whatever the problem might have been-- happened.
或者有人结婚了或者任何可能发生的问题。
And so from that point on, it was just-- shut up, not to talk about, not said anything about.
所以从那时起，就只是——闭嘴，不许谈论，不说任何事。
Never, as far as I can remember.
据我记忆，从来没有。
What's weird about this is that John B.
奇怪的是，约翰·B.
Keeline I, my great-grandfather, wasn't some small town nobody.
我的曾祖父基林一世并不是小镇上的无名小卒。
He was one of the most prominent men in Council Bluffs.
他是康瑟尔布拉夫斯最著名的人物之一。
He was rich.
他很富有。
Very, very rich.
非常非常富有。
His parents and grandparents had been directors and heavy shareholders in the Council Bluffs savings bank, and amassed a small fortune they'd inherited at 21.
他的父母和祖父母曾是康瑟尔布拉夫斯储蓄银行的董事和大股东，并在 21 岁时继承了一笔不小的财富。
I found his probate papers.
我找到了他的遗嘱认证文件。
They're dated from 1888 to 1904.
它们的日期为 1888 年至 1904 年。
Besides the astonishing amount of bank stock and dividends listed, he also owned two thirds interest in a Wyoming territory cattle ranch and thousands of head of cattle, acres and acres of land in Council Bluffs, and about $200,000 in cash, which today equals about $3 million.
除了数量惊人的银行股票和股息外，他还拥有怀俄明州一个养牛场三分之二的权益，以及康瑟尔布拉夫斯数千头牛、数英亩的土地，以及约 20 万美元的现金，相当于今天的约 300 万美元。
He sounds like the kind of guy who would have generated some conversation within the family.
他听起来像是那种会在家里引起一些话题的人。
But it wasn't until eight years ago, when my grandfather died and our family gathered in Iowa for the funeral, that I began to piece together the mysterious story of John B.
但直到八年前，当我的祖父去世，我们全家聚集在爱荷华州参加葬礼时，我才开始拼凑出约翰·B·肯尼迪的神秘故事。
Keeline.
基林。
It was after my grandfather's burial, and a guy from the cemetery led us on a tour to see some of our family grave sites.
那是在我祖父的葬礼之后，墓地的一个人带领我们参观了我们家族的一些墓地。
We were walking behind him when he stopped and pointed to a small headstone, about the size of a house brick and covered in oak leaves.
当我们走在他身后时，他停下来，指着一块小墓碑，墓碑大约有砖块大小，上面覆盖着橡树叶。
The caretaker took a deep breath, and you could tell he was about to say something.
管家深吸了一口气，看得出来他正要说什么。
But he never got the chance.
但他一直没有机会。
My grandmother was all over him.
我的祖母全身心都在他身上。
"That is not a member of the Keeline family!" she snapped.
“那不是基林家族的人！”她厉声说道。
"You don't know what you're talking about, just move along, young man."
“你不知道自己在说什么，走吧，年轻人。”
A word about my grandmother, who's now dead.
谈谈我的祖母，她现在已经去世了。
She was a tiny woman, just over five feet tall, who wore a tremendous amount of jewelry.
她是个身材娇小的女人，身高只有五英尺多一点，戴着大量的珠宝。
And she also had a way of scaring the bejeezus out of just about anyone.
她还有一种办法可以让任何人都惊慌失措。
Imagine a tiny, old, white lady, with the temper and fashion sense of Mr. T, and you get the idea.
想象一下一位瘦小、年长的白人女士，有着 T 先生的脾气和时尚感，你就明白了。
So nana had control of the tour from there.
所以娜娜从那里控制了巡演。
We kept moving, walked up a hill which overlooks the rest of the cemetery, to my great-grandfather's grave.
我们继续前行，爬上一座俯瞰墓地其余部分的小山，来到我曾祖父的坟墓前。
He has a modest stone, about the size of the yellow pages, resting in the grass.
他在草地上放着一块不起眼的石头，大约有黄页那么大。
He died in 1926.
他于 1926 年去世。
John Beresheim Keeline.
约翰·贝雷斯海姆·基林。
My great-grandmother's stone lies to the right of his, Margaret C.
我曾祖母的石头位于他的玛格丽特·C.
Keeline.
基林。
She died in 1913.
她于 1913 年去世。
This was the first time anyone in my family had ever acknowledged the existence of these two people.
这是我家里的人第一次承认这两个人的存在。
I wondered why their lives were so short.
我想知道为什么他们的生命如此短暂。
She was only 27 when she died, and he was only 43.
她去世时年仅27岁，而他也只有43岁。
More than anything, though, I wondered why my grandmother flipped out on the poor fellow from the cemetery.
不过，最重要的是，我想知道为什么我的祖母会对墓地里的这个可怜的家伙发脾气。
I memorized the dates on their headstones, and on the way back to the hotel I had my father drop me off at the local library.
我记下了他们墓碑上的日期，在返回酒店的路上，我让父亲把我送到了当地的图书馆。
I found the microfilm for the local paper, the Council Bluffs Nonpareil.
我找到了当地报纸《康瑟尔布拉夫斯无与伦比》的缩微胶卷。
I scroll through until I reach the edition published on the same date as the one carved into my great-grandfather's headstone.
我滚动浏览，直到看到与我曾祖父墓碑上刻的版本同一日期出版的版本。
November 15, 1926.
1926 年 11 月 15 日。
The headline ran across the entire page, in big bold letters.
标题以粗体字贯穿整个页面。
John B.
约翰·B.
Keeline Kills His Wife And Himself.
基林杀死了他的妻子和他自己。
There are a few sub-headlines, also in big bold letters.
有一些小标题，也是大粗体字母。
Poultry Raiser And Ex-bank Official Also Wounds Sister-in-Law When He Runs Amok At Home With Shotgun.
家禽饲养员和前银行官员在家里用猎枪胡作非为时也打伤了嫂子。
And another one: Turns Home Into Shambles After Protracted Drinking; He Dies Instantly, Spouse Lives Short Time.
还有一则：长期酗酒后把家弄得一团糟；他立即去世，配偶寿命短暂。
And the final one, She Planned To Get A Divorce, Friends Say.
最后一篇是《朋友们说她计划离婚》。
I was immediately self-conscious about someone in the library walking by and seeing the gruesome headlines on my screen.
当图书馆里有人走过并看到我屏幕上可怕的标题时，我立即感到不自在。
I made some copies and headed to the bar across the street from the library, ordered a Budweiser, and read the story again.
我复印了一些，然后前往图书馆街对面的酒吧，点了一杯百威啤酒，又读了一遍这个故事。
It's pretty graphic.
这是非常形象化的。
Council Bluffs, Iowa, Monday evening, November 15, 1926.
爱荷华州康瑟尔布拉夫斯，1926 年 11 月 15 日星期一晚上。
John B.
约翰·B.
Keeline, 43, sportsman and chicken farm owner, shortly after nine Monday morning shot and killed his wife, Carla, 26, wounded his sister-in-law, Mrs. Henry Andreason, and blew out his brains.
基林，43 岁，运动员兼养鸡场老板，周一上午 9 点刚过不久，他开枪打死了他 26 岁的妻子卡拉，打伤了他的嫂子亨利·安德烈森夫人，并打爆了他的大脑。
Quarrels over a threatened divorce and the supposed refusal of Mrs. Keeline to place a second mortgage on their home, which had been deeded to her, are believed to have precipitated the killings.
据信，因威胁离婚而发生的争吵以及基林夫人拒绝为他们的房屋（该房屋已转让给她）提供第二次抵押贷款，引发了这场杀戮。
The immediate cause of the shootings is said to have been Mrs. Keeline's desire to leave her husband and go with her sister to Gary, Indiana to live.
据说，枪击事件的直接原因是基林夫人想要离开丈夫，和姐姐一起去印第安纳州加里生活。
Members of Mrs. Keeline's family say that such quarrels have been frequent during the last month and that Keeline had been under the influence of whiskey and on the verge of delirium tremens for weeks.
基林夫人的家人说，上个月这样的争吵经常发生，而且基林已经在威士忌的影响下连续几周处于震颤性谵妄的边缘。
Sheriff P.A.
警长 P.A.
Lainson, Coroner H.
莱恩森，验尸官 H.
Cutler, and County Attorney Frank F.
卡特勒和县检察官弗兰克·F.
Northrop have been reconstructing the crime from the evidence of bullet-scarred walls, blood patches, and other signs at the Keeline home, 201 Frank Street.
诺斯罗普一直在根据弗兰克街 201 号基林家中的弹痕墙壁、血迹和其他标志来重建犯罪现场。
Their reconstruction of the crime disclosed that Keeline attacked his wife while she was preparing to dress in their bedroom.
他们对犯罪事实的重建显示，基林在他的妻子准备在他们的卧室里穿衣服时袭击了她。
Brandishing a loaded 16-gauge shotgun, he advanced upon her as she cowered, totally nude, in the door of a clothes closet with her hand over face in an attempt to ward off the shot, which a second later went crashing through her hand and into her left jaw and neck.
他挥舞着一把装满子弹的16号霰弹枪，向她逼近，当时她全身赤裸地蜷缩在衣橱门口，双手捂着脸，试图挡开子弹，但一秒钟后，子弹穿过她的手，击中她的左下巴和脖子。
Mrs. Andreason was attracted from her own bedroom where her child Gloria, six-months-old, lay asleep.
安德烈森夫人被她自己的卧室所吸引，她六个月大的孩子格洛丽亚睡着了。
Taking one terrified look into the bedroom, Mrs. Andreason is believed to have noticed the nude body of Mrs. Keeline, writhing in a pool of blood at the half-open closet door, then ran to the stairs, intending to summon aid.
安德烈亚森夫人惊恐地朝卧室看了一眼，据信注意到基林夫人赤裸的尸体在半开的壁橱门旁的血泊中翻滚，然后跑到楼梯上，打算呼叫救援。
Before she had descended three steps, she was met with the other charge from the shotgun in the hands of Keeline, and staggered the remainder of the distance downstairs, with part of her left shoulder torn away.
还没走下三级台阶，就遭到了基林手中霰弹枪的另一次冲锋，她踉踉跄跄地走完了楼下的剩余距离，左肩被撕掉了一部分。
Keeline then went downstairs, placed the empty shotgun on a chair, went into the butler's pantry, leveled the 20 caliber special police pistol at his head, pulled the trigger, and fell over a chair.
基林随后下楼，将空猎枪放在椅子上，走进管家的储藏室，将20口径特警手枪对准自己的头部，扣动扳机，从椅子上摔倒。
Mrs. Andreason, mother of the dead woman and mother-in-law of Mrs. Henry Andreason, said her daughter had talked of her troubles for several days.
死者的母亲、亨利·安德烈森夫人的岳母安德烈亚森夫人说，她的女儿已经谈论了她的烦恼好几天了。
Sunday night, during a visit to her mother, Mrs. Keeline is quoted by members of the family as saying, "I'm afraid of John.
周日晚上，在探望她母亲时，家庭成员引用基林夫人的话：“我害怕约翰。
He insists on keeping a loaded gun where he can reach it and he has threatened me.
他坚持把一把上膛的枪放在他能拿到的地方，并且威胁了我。
Once I hid it, but he made me search it out and give it back to him.
有一次我把它藏起来，但他让我把它找出来还给他。
He is drinking all the time and I'm afraid he will do something to me." The mother advised her daughter as best she was able.
他一直在喝酒，我担心他会对我做什么。”母亲尽其所能地建议女儿。
Keeline is said to have been admitted to an Omaha hospital less than six months ago, suffering from the effects of excessive drinking.
据说基林不到六个月前因酗酒而住进奥马哈一家医院。
He lay between life and death for days, hope being given up on several occasions, until they finally rallied and returned to his home.
他在生与死之间徘徊了好几天，几次都放弃了希望，直到他们终于重整旗鼓，回到了他的家。
After being nursed through a period of convalescence, which followed this outbreak of what is described by Mrs. Andreason as delirium tremens, Keeline began drinking again, and abusing the wife who had nursed him.
经过一段康复期的护理后，安德烈森夫人描述的震颤性谵妄爆发，基林又开始酗酒，并虐待照顾他的妻子。
His condition gradually becoming worse, until it ended in Monday's bloody tragedy.
他的病情逐渐恶化，直到周一的血腥悲剧结束。
Mrs. Carla Keeline was the third wife of John B.
卡拉·基林夫人是约翰·B·肯尼迪的第三任妻子。
Keeline.
基林。
The first wife was Miss Margaret Coyle, member of a prominent Council Bluffs family, who died in a local hospital following treatment for injuries she is said to have received when she fell over a chair in a scuffle with her husband while he was suffering from the effects of drink.
第一任妻子是玛格丽特·科伊尔小姐，她是康瑟尔布拉夫斯一个显赫家族的成员，据说她在与醉酒的丈夫发生扭打时从椅子上摔倒，受伤后在当地一家医院接受治疗后死亡。
Miss Margaret Coyle, she's my great-grandmother, the one buried next to him.
玛格丽特·科伊尔小姐，她是我的曾祖母，埋在他旁边。
Later I found her death certificate.
后来我找到了她的死亡证明。
It says she died of Septicemia after 28 days in the hospital.
据称，她在医院住院 28 天后死于败血症。
A newspaper article announcing her death in 1913 says nothing about how she was injured.
1913 年，一篇宣布她去世的报纸文章没有提及她是如何受伤的。
The death of Mrs. Keeline number one left Johnny Keeline, then two-years-old, motherless.
第一号基林夫人的去世使当时两岁的约翰尼·基林失去了母亲。
Johnny Keeline.
约翰尼·基林.
That's my grandfather, who we all called Papou.
那是我的祖父，我们都叫他帕普。
A few years later, Keeline married Miss Zelma E.
几年后，基林与泽尔玛·E小姐结婚。
Shellenberg, at that time an employee of the Beno store in the city.
谢伦伯格当时是该市贝诺商店的一名员工。
Four years ago, wife number two obtained a divorce from Keeline.
四年前，二号妻子与基琳离婚。
Mrs. Keeline number two is alleged to have brought her charges after coming home unexpectedly from a trip to the Pacific coast and surprising Keeline with two other local men and three women, engaged in a drunken orgy at the Keeline home.
据称，基林二号夫人在太平洋海岸旅行后意外回家，并与另外两名当地男子和三名女子在基林家中醉酒狂欢，令基林大吃一惊，随后提出了指控。
Mrs. Keeline number three, killed Monday in the mad attack which turned the old Keeline homestead into a shambles, was married to John B.
基林三号夫人于周一在疯狂袭击中丧生，这场袭击使基林的旧宅基地变成了一片废墟，她的丈夫是约翰·B·肯尼迪 (John B.
Keeline two years ago, at which time she worked at the Wilcox flower store.
基琳两年前在威尔科克斯花店工作。
The girl was well known locally.
这个女孩在当地很有名。
So his third wife's, Carla's, was the small headstone the guy in the cemetery was trying to point out.
所以他的第三任妻子卡拉的墓碑就是墓地里那个家伙试图指出的小墓碑。
I went to see it later.
我后来去看了。
All it said was Carla, 1902 to 1926.
上面写的都是卡拉，1902 年至 1926 年。
There's no last name.
没有姓氏。
At the hotel later that night, after everyone's kids were asleep, I gathered the rest of my family into my uncle's room and read out loud what I had found to them.
那天晚上晚些时候，在酒店，当每个人的孩子都睡着后，我把其他家人聚集到叔叔的房间里，向他们大声朗读我的发现。
The news I was telling them, in brief, was this-- my great-grandfather the man who was your grandfather, was married three times.
简而言之，我告诉他们的消息是这样的——我的曾祖父，也就是你们的祖父，结过三次婚。
He beat his first wife to death in a drunken rage-- that was your grandmother.
他醉酒狂怒，把他的第一任妻子打死了——那就是你的祖母。
He was never punished.
他从未受到惩罚。
His second wife, after years of abuse, divorced him.
他的第二任妻子在遭受多年的虐待后与他离婚。
And his third wife he shot in the face before killing himself.
他在自杀前开枪射中了他的第三任妻子的脸。
When I finished reading there was a long silence.
当我读完后，大家陷入了长时间的沉默。
Someone said, "Well, there's the big family secret." And that was about it.
有人说：“嗯，这是一个大家庭秘密。”就是这样。
Then a bunch of us piled into a hotel van and went to a new floating casino on the bank of the river between Council Bluffs and Omaha.
然后我们一群人挤进一辆酒店货车，前往位于康瑟尔布拉夫斯和奥马哈之间河岸上的一家新的水上赌场。
No one mentioned the article again, and no one ever asked me for a copy.
没有人再提过这篇文章，也没有人向我索要一份副本。
I suppose I kind of forgot the whole thing, too, for a while.
我想我也有一段时间忘记了整件事。
And then last year, the Edison, which I inherited, arrived at my apartment.
去年，我继承的爱迪生来到了我的公寓。
The first day I got it was the first time I ever heard it played.
我拿到它的第一天是我第一次听到它演奏。
It sounded so beautiful, so old.
听起来那么美丽，那么古老。
But creepy, too.
但也令人毛骨悚然。
The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that my great-grandfather's story had to mean something in my family.
我想得越多，就越相信我曾祖父的故事对我的家庭一定有意义。
It had to have affected us in some way.
它一定以某种方式影响了我们。
It didn't seem possible that we had all just forgotten it, that the brutal facts of his life had just floated away as soon as I told him in the hotel room that night.
那天晚上我在酒店房间里告诉他时，他生活中残酷的事实就消失了，我们似乎都不可能忘记了。
I decided to ask my mom and uncles about it.
我决定去问问妈妈和叔叔们。
I went to Iowa to see Uncle Jim.
我去爱荷华州看望吉姆叔叔。
He's the youngest of my mom's family and we've always been pretty close.
他是我妈妈家里最小的一个，我们一直很亲密。
He started out, like all the kids, saying that he really hadn't given the whole thing much thought.
和所有孩子一样，他开始说他真的没有对整件事考虑太多。
But after awhile, he opened up.
但过了一会儿，他就开口了。
And then he told me something I was totally unprepared for.
然后他告诉了我一些我完全没有准备的事情。
That his father taken him aside 40 years ago, when he was in his early 20's, and confided in him.
40 年前，当他 20 岁出头时，他的父亲把他拉到一边，并向他吐露心声。
It was at the Central [UNINTELLIGIBLE] Savings Bank, where at that time I worked, and at that time he owned.
那是在中央[无法辨认]储蓄银行，当时我在那里工作，当时他拥有银行。
And he had told me of the problems.
他告诉了我这些问题。
What did he tell you?
他告诉你什么了？
Uncle Jim Well, he told me that his father was an alcoholic.
吉姆叔叔嗯，他告诉我他的父亲是个酒鬼。
That he was a vicious person.
说明他是一个恶毒的人。
cruel person, I guess, is maybe a better way to put it.
我想，残酷的人也许是更好的表达方式。
Had killed, or was involved in killing his mother.
杀了他的母亲，或者参与杀害了他的母亲。
He didn't elaborate on it?
他没有详细说明吗？
Uncle Jim He said this is what had happened, and his dad knew the chief of police-- and this was during prohibition and everything else, and he could always go down and get a gallon of whiskey or whatever it was that he wanted.
吉姆叔叔他说这就是发生的事情，他爸爸认识警察局长——而且这是在禁酒令和其他一切期间，他总是可以下去买一加仑威士忌或任何他想要的东西。
You know, without any problems.
你知道，没有任何问题。
What the relationship was between the chief of police and dad's dad, I have no idea.
我不知道警察局长和我爸爸的爸爸之间是什么关系。
He didn't elaborate on that.
他没有详细说明这一点。
But he had this thing that-- I guess he killed his wife.
但他有这样的事——我猜他杀了他的妻子。
Do you remember what you feel like when he told you that?
你还记得他告诉你这件事时你的感受吗？
Well, yeah, I can remember exactly how I felt like.
嗯，是的，我清楚地记得我的感受。
I was surprised.
我很惊讶。
But on the same hand I told my dad-- I said, well you certainly have gone beyond that.
但与此同时，我告诉我的父亲——我说，你当然已经超越了这一点。
And I said to my dad, I said, well it's not always like father like son, is it?
我对我爸爸说，我说，父亲并不总是像儿子一样，不是吗？
And I said, you're a perfect example of that.
我说，你就是一个完美的例子。
I said, I can only hope that I can follow in your footsteps.
我说，我只希望我能追随你的脚步。
Did he-- Uncle Jim He got very emotional at that point in time, and that was pretty much the end of the discussion.
他——吉姆叔叔他当时非常情绪化吗，讨论基本上就结束了。
Did he put any restrictions on you with that information?
他有没有用这些信息对你施加任何限制？
Asked me never to tell anybody about what he had told me.
让我永远不要告诉任何人他告诉我的事情。
And I gave him my word I wouldn't.
我向他保证我不会。
So you never confided this information to anyone.
所以你从未向任何人透露过这个信息。
No, no, no. You're the only one that I've ever told this to.
不，不，不。你是我唯一告诉过你这件事的人。
And I guess I can say I hope that it will never go any further than this, but I guess it will.
我想我可以说我希望它永远不会比这更进一步，但我想它会的。
I gave my dad my word that I'd never tell.
我向父亲许诺，但我永远不会说出口。
To me, right now, is that I have broke my word to him.
现在对我来说，我已经违背了对他的诺言。
I called my Uncle John in Colorado.
我给科罗拉多州的约翰叔叔打了电话。
He's actually John B.
他实际上是约翰·B.
Keeline III, the middle child.
基林三世，排行中间的孩子。
He couldn't believe his brother never told him.
他不敢相信他的兄弟从来没有告诉过他。
But see, why?
但你看，为什么？
I mean this is what this whole goddamn family's made up of, is a bunch of [BLEEP].
我的意思是，这就是整个该死的家庭的组成部分，是一群[BLEEP]。
Because why didn't my mom and dad keep all that [BLEEP] a secret?
因为为什么我的妈妈和爸爸不保守所有这些[BLEEP]秘密？
Every [BLEEP] thing in this world is a secret.
这个世界上的每件事[BLEEP]都是秘密。
Gosh, I'm not going to tell you guys, because this is a secret.
天哪，我不会告诉你们，因为这是一个秘密。
I'm not going to tell you guys, this is a secret.
我不会告诉你们，这是一个秘密。
You know, I think that just pure-ass sucks.
你知道，我认为纯粹的屁股很糟糕。
Excuse the expression, but I think it just sucks.
请原谅我的表达方式，但我认为这很糟糕。
I mean, you know.
我的意思是，你知道。
I mean, that's just like me saying, well I was told everything up front and then I'm going to keep it a secret from my brother and my sister.
我的意思是，就像我说的那样，我事先就被告知了一切，然后我会对我的兄弟和姐妹保守秘密。
I think that's [BLEEP], I really and honest to god think it's [BLEEP].
我认为那是[BLEEP]，我真的并且诚实地认为这是[BLEEP]。
Uncle John told me that Jim's secret conversation with their father and the secret about my great-grandfather's murder-suicide are just two more items in a long list of family secrets.
约翰叔叔告诉我，吉姆与他们父亲的秘密谈话和我曾祖父谋杀自杀的秘密只是一长串家庭秘密中的另外两项。
Take the story of Uncle Heine.
以海涅叔叔的故事为例。
They were told all their lives he was their mother's uncle.
他们一生都被告知他是他们母亲的叔叔。
In fact, he was their grandfather, their other grandfather.
事实上，他是他们的祖父，他们的另一个祖父。
He used to come over to the house, but everyone who knew was sworn to secrecy.
他过去常来这所房子，但所有知道的人都发誓保守秘密。
And how in the world they convinced them that if, in fact, they would ever happen to open their mouth and say-- I mean, those people had to live in ungodly fear.
他们到底是如何说服他们的，如果他们碰巧开口说——我的意思是，那些人必须生活在不敬虔的恐惧中。
You know?
你知道？
How many times do you think Uncle Heine wanted to say, you know, I'm not your Uncle Heine, I'm your grandfather.
你想海涅叔叔有多少次想说，你知道，我不是你的海涅叔叔，我是你的祖父。
Finally, when their mom was dying, the kids figured it out.
最后，当他们的妈妈去世时，孩子们明白了。
And even then, my grandmother wouldn't say a word.
即使这样，我的祖母也没有说一句话。
Jim was the one who came in from the hospital-- it was the day we were going to bring her home and everything.
吉姆是从医院回来的人——那天我们要带她回家以及一切。
He says, guess who our grandfather was?
他说，猜猜我们的祖父是谁？
And I just looked at him, I said Uncle Heine.
我只是看着他，我说海涅叔叔。
He said how'd you guess?
他说你怎么猜到的？
I said it's the only thing that makes sense.
我说这是唯一有意义的事情。
And mom was not going to discuss that.
妈妈不打算讨论这个。
I asked her one time after I found out.
我知道后有一次问过她。
I said, you know, tell me about Uncle Heine.
我说，你知道吗，告诉我海涅叔叔的事吧。
"I'm not going to discuss it with you." And that was the end of it.
“我不会和你讨论这个问题。”事情就这样结束了。
And she was dying, Kevin, I wasn't going to argue the point with her.
她快要死了，凯文，我不会和她争论这一点。
That's just the way it was.
事情就是这样。
Secrets were the norm.
秘密是常态。
What nobody fully understands is why their father, John B.
没有人完全理解为什么他们的父亲约翰·B.
Keeline II, went along with it.
基林二世也同意了。
They all adored him.
他们都很崇拜他。
Not only his kids, but the whole town of Cherokee, where they lived.
不仅是他的孩子们，还有他们居住的切罗基整个小镇。
He was honest and kind, he never even swore.
他为人诚实、善良，甚至从不发誓。
It was his wife, my grandmother, the tiny one with all the jewelry, who insisted on the secrets.
坚持保守秘密的是他的妻子，也就是我的祖母，那个拥有所有珠宝的小女人。
So because of her, my mom and uncles all say, the family operated under a strict policy of don't ask don't tell.
我妈妈和叔叔们都说，因为她，家里的运作遵循严格的“不问不说”的政策。
We would have a discussion or whatever, or disagreement, whatever it was in the family-- "We'll talk about it tomorrow." End of discussion.
我们会进行讨论或其他任何事情，或者有分歧，无论家里发生了什么——“我们明天再讨论。”讨论结束。
Tomorrow never came.
明天从未到来。
You know, every time you turn around, you hear somebody say about eight or six words about something or other and you kind of think, well Jesus, none of that makes sense.
你知道，每次你转身时，你都会听到有人对某事或其他事说八到六个字，你就会想，天啊，这些都没有意义。
But that's all that's ever said.
但仅此而已。
So they had two grandfathers, and all their lives they never heard the truth about either one-- Uncle Heine or John B.
所以他们有两个祖父，他们一生都没有听说过关于其中任何一个的真相——海涅叔叔或约翰·B·肯尼迪。
Keeline I.
基林一世
But they were way angrier about Uncle Heine because they saw him all the time.
但他们对海涅叔叔更生气，因为他们总是看到他。
John B.
约翰·B.
Keeline I was a man they'd never met from a town they didn't live in.
基林：我是一个他们从未见过的人，来自一个他们不住的城镇。
But what's strange is, that when I asked them again about the newspaper article, I realized they'd all avoided taking in what he really did.
但奇怪的是，当我再次向他们询问报纸上的文章时，我意识到他们都避免接受他真正所做的事情。
My mom said the killings might have been an accident, and thought she remembered something about cleaning a gun.
我妈妈说这起杀戮可能是一场意外，并认为她记得一些有关清洁枪支的事情。
Jim suggested that the woman he killed might have driven him to it.
吉姆暗示他可能是被他杀死的那个女人驱使他这么做的。
And then there's John.
然后是约翰。
Kevin, I honest to gosh can't even remember what the article was about.
凯文，老实说，我什至不记得这篇文章是关于什么的。
I couldn't tell you one absolute word or one thing about what was in any one piece of the article.
我无法告诉你关于这篇文章的任何一篇文章中的一个绝对的词或一件事。
It's as if they'd all had been just as happy to leave it a secret.
就好像他们都很乐意保守秘密一样。
Here's my mom.
这是我妈妈。
I wasn't told these things.
我没有被告知这些事情。
There was a reason, evidently, that they didn't want to do it.
显然，他们不想这样做是有原因的。
And I can understand you wanting to find out more, and everything.
我能理解你想要了解更多以及一切。
But on the same hand, I don't want anything said or done that would hurt my dad, or hurt my dad's name.
但另一方面，我不希望任何言论或行为会伤害我父亲，或伤害我父亲的名誉。
And I feel very strongly about that.
我对此有强烈的感受。
My dad was everything to me.
我的父亲对我来说就是一切。
I'd just leave it all under the rug before I'd-- basically, I guess, tarnish his name.
在我——基本上，我想，玷污他的名声之前，我会把这一切都隐藏起来。
In some way, they'd taken on their father's shame about the whole thing and left the history untouched to protect him, and each other, and themselves, against the judgment of outsiders.
在某种程度上，他们承担了父亲对整件事的耻辱，并保持历史不变，以保护他、彼此和他们自己，免受外人的评判。
Exactly the way families are supposed to.
这正是家庭应该有的方式。
I still play the old cylinders on the Edison from time to time.
我仍然时不时地在爱迪生上演奏旧的圆筒。
This one called, Then You'll Remember Me.
这个叫《那么你就会记住我》。
There's a line in the song that goes like this, "There may perhaps, in such a scene some recollection be, of day's that have happy been.
歌里有一句歌词是这样的：“也许，在这样的场景中，可以回忆起曾经快乐的日子。
Then you'll remember me."
到时候你就会记住我的。”
[MUSIC - "Then You'll Remember Me"]
[音乐-“那么你就会记住我”]
Kevin O'Leary lives in Toronto.
凯文·奥利里住在多伦多。
Actor Matt Malloy read the 1926 newspaper article for us.
演员马特·马洛伊为我们朗读了 1926 年的报纸文章。
Coming up, a 12-year-old ruins a day that is 18 years in the making.
接下来，一个 12 岁的孩子毁掉了 18 年酝酿的一天。
That's in a minute, from Chicago Public Radio and Public Radio International when our program continues.
稍后，芝加哥公共广播电台和国际公共广播电台将继续我们的节目。
It's This American Life, I'm Ira Glass.
这就是美国生活，我是艾拉·格拉斯。
Our program today, Family Legends.
我们今天的节目是《家族传奇》。
We've arrived at Act Three of our show.
我们已经到了节目的第三幕了。
Act Three, Admissions.
第三幕，招生。
This is one of those stories that didn't turn into a family story until one of the kids went to college and started telling this story, and then realized just how unusual her family was.
这是一个没有变成家庭故事的故事，直到其中一个孩子上了大学并开始讲述这个故事，然后意识到她的家庭是多么不寻常。
It's partly a story of a prank gone wrong, but it's a prank that the family was building up to for years.
这在一定程度上是一个恶作剧的故事，但这是这个家庭多年来积累的恶作剧。
Katia Dunn tells the story.
卡蒂亚·邓恩讲述了这个故事。
Megan Curtis can remember her first campus visit as a prospective student.
梅根·柯蒂斯还记得她作为一名未来的学生第一次参观校园。
She was eight-years-old.
她八岁了。
She was the youngest of three girls that on spring break, summer vacation, even some Christmas breaks, when other New Jersey families were going skiing or to the beach, Megan's family was touring college campuses.
她是三个女孩中最小的一个，在春假、暑假，甚至一些圣诞节假期，当新泽西州的其他家庭去滑雪或去海滩时，梅根的家人正在参观大学校园。
NYU, Columbia, U Penn-- Katia Dunn You can hear in her voice how much she enjoyed those visits.
纽约大学、哥伦比亚大学、宾夕法尼亚大学——卡蒂亚·邓恩 (Katia Dunn) 从她的声音中你可以听出她是多么享受这些访问。
Megan figures that they visited 40 or 50 schools before they even began filling out their applications.
梅根估计，他们在开始填写申请之前就参观了 40 到 50 所学校。
I was intentionally brought along on all these visits because, you know, in 10 years I would be going to college too.
我被有意带去参加所有这些访问，因为你知道，十年后我也将上大学。
So it was important for me to have some sort of impression of these places.
所以对我来说对这些地方有某种印象很重要。
And were you excited at all about college?
你对大学感到兴奋吗？
No, I hated going on them.
不，我讨厌继续他们。
It was boring, it was really boring.
很无聊，真的很无聊。
It was Megan's mom who insisted on the visits.
是梅根的妈妈坚持要去看望她的。
She was obsessed with finding the perfect school for each of her daughters.
她痴迷于为她的每个女儿找到一所完美的学校。
She read the college guide so often that their bindings wore out.
她经常阅读大学指南，以至于它们的装订都磨损了。
Not satisfied with the book's rating systems, she posted charts on the refrigerator with rankings of her own.
她对这本书的评级系统不满意，在冰箱上张贴了带有她自己的排名的图表。
She hung up a map of the United States and traced a pizza pan on it.
她挂了一张美国地图，并在上面画出了一个披萨盘。
Colleges inside the circle were OK to apply to.
圈子内的院校都可以申请。
Colleges outside the circle were too far from home.
圈外的大学离家太远了。
I remember going, searching high and low to find Wite-Out strips that were the same color as all of the applications.
我记得我到处寻找，寻找与所有应用程序颜色相同的 Wite-Out 条带。
So, like, let's say James Madison had manila paper-- you know, she really went all over the state of New Jersey looking for the exact right color of manila Wite-Out strips.
所以，就像，假设詹姆斯·麦迪逊有马尼拉纸——你知道，她真的跑遍了新泽西州寻找完全正确颜色的马尼拉纸Wite-Out 条。
And she found them.
她找到了他们。
It wasn't enough, said her mother, to fill out an application.
她的母亲说，填写申请表还不够。
When Megan's older sister, Amanda, started applying to colleges, she needed a way to stand out.
当梅根的姐姐阿曼达开始申请大学时，她需要一种脱颖而出的方法。
So her mother commissioned the owner of the local video store to make a film about Amanda's field hockey career.
因此，她的母亲委托当地音像店的老板制作一部关于阿曼达曲棍球生涯的电影。
It was set to Eye Of The Tiger.
它被设置为“老虎之眼”。
Megan remembers it clearly.
梅根记得很清楚。
The video starts off with Mandy giving this really awkward monologue.
视频一开始，曼迪就发表了这段非常尴尬的独白。
Hi, my name is Mandy Curtis.
嗨，我叫曼迪·柯蒂斯。
I'm the captain of this year's varsity field hockey team at Middletown High School South.
我是今年米德尔敦高中南校曲棍球队的队长。
Very clearly, my mother scripted for her.
很明显，我母亲是为她编写的。
That sort of runs through every single accomplishment that she had ever made in her field hockey career, going all the way back to the seventh grade.
这贯穿了她在曲棍球生涯中取得的每一项成就，一直追溯到七年级。
And eighth grade, I was the captain of my eighth grade team, and selected as an all-star.
八年级时，我是八年级队的队长，并入选全明星。
She wouldn't get in if she left any of these things out.
如果她漏掉这些东西，她就进不去。
On JV, I dressed for a few varsity games for the state championships, and saw some time.
在JV，我穿着衣服参加了几场州锦标赛的校队比赛，并度过了一些时间。
I do remember thinking it was pretty cool that I had a video.
我记得当时我觉得我有一个视频真是太酷了。
And here's Amanda.
这是阿曼达。
Amanda Curtis It was filmed in front of our house and it was such a suburb sort of scene.
阿曼达·柯蒂斯 这是在我们家门前拍摄的，那是一个郊区的场景。
And I'm sure it did nothing to help me.
我确信它对我没有任何帮助。
If anything, it made me look probably younger and more immature and not ready to go to college.
如果说有什么不同的话，那就是它让我看起来可能更年轻、更不成熟，而且还没有准备好上大学。
But I thought it was pretty good.
但我觉得这已经很不错了。
I still do.
我仍然这样做。
To understand what happened next, you have to consider that, by now, 12-year-old Megan was feeling pretty sorry for herself.
要理解接下来发生的事情，你必须考虑到，到目前为止，12 岁的梅根已经为自己感到非常难过。
She was miserable.
她很痛苦。
Her mom's obsession with college put everyone in the house on edge.
她妈妈对大学的痴迷让家里的每个人都紧张不安。
And with everybody worrying about her sister's application, nobody was paying any attention to Megan.
当每个人都担心她姐姐的申请时，没有人关注梅根。
All the family cared about was the letter they knew would soon arrive from the Davidson College admissions office, saying whether Amanda had been admitted to her first choice school.
家人关心的只是戴维森学院招生办公室很快就会寄来的一封信，信中说阿曼达是否已被她的首选学校录取。
And if Megan thought the application part of the process had been agonizing-- well, this was worse.
如果梅根认为这个过程的申请部分很痛苦——那么，情况更糟。
I couldn't take the waiting anymore.
我不能再等待了。
You know, I was every day checking the mailbox.
你知道，我每天都检查邮箱。
It wasn't there, It wasn't there, it wasn't there.
它不在那儿，它不在那儿，它不在那儿。
So I decided that it was time to end the waiting and write my own acceptance letter for Amanda.
所以我决定是时候结束等待并为阿曼达写我自己的录取通知书了。
And so I did that.
所以我就这么做了。
I found the dean of the admissions' name, and the address of the admissions office.
我找到了招生主任的名字，以及招生办公室的地址。
And I cut out the heading, their letterhead.
我剪掉了标题，他们的信头。
So I sat down and I wrote this letter.
所以我坐下来写了这封信。
Actually, I have it here.
事实上，我这里有。
"Dear Amanda, it is with great pleasures that we write to inform you of your acceptance to Davidson College, class of 1996.
“亲爱的阿曼达，我们非常高兴地写信通知您，您被戴维森学院 1996 届毕业生录取。
With a record number of applications this year, it was not easy to get in this year.
今年的申请数量创历史新高，今年的录取并不容易。
But after reading your inspiring application, we knew you would be an admirable addition to this institution's cast of stars."
但在阅读了您鼓舞人心的申请后，我们知道您将成为该机构明星阵容中令人钦佩的一员。”
The letter was very clearly written by an eleven-year-old.
这封信写得非常清楚，是一个十一岁的孩子写的。
"We were especially impressed with your amazing sports talent.
“你惊人的运动天赋给我们留下了特别深刻的印象。
I know that this must be a very inspiring time for you but is also very important to concentrate on the first tuition deposit.
我知道这对你来说一定是一个非常鼓舞人心的时刻，但专注于第一笔学费存款也非常重要。
We need it pretty soon.
我们很快就需要它。
Please make sure to send the check to our admissions office right after this letter arrives at your house.
请确保在这封信到达您家后立即将支票发送到我们的招生办公室。
We hope you are as happy as we are that you got in here.
我们希望您和我们一样高兴来到这里。
Sincerely, Nancy J.
此致，南希·J.
Cable, Dean of Admission."
凯布尔，招生主任。”
I remember thinking, God, this is great.
我记得我当时想，天哪，这太棒了。
This is so good, this is my best work.
这太好了，这是我最好的作品。
I really should try to send it to her.
我真的应该尝试将其发送给她。
I somehow, I think, just wanted her to feel like she had gotten in.
我想，不知何故，我只是想让她感觉自己已经融入其中了。
Because she so badly wanted to get in.
因为她实在是太想进去了。
And more than that, my mother so badly wanted her to get in.
更重要的是，我母亲非常希望她能进去。
And I think, in some ways, it was probably for my own benefit, too.
我认为，在某些方面，这可能也是为了我自己的利益。
I wanted to be a part of this whole thing, too.
我也想成为这整件事的一部分。
Megan's dad ran a business out of their house, which made finding the FedEx envelope and filling it out no problem.
梅根的父亲在家里经营一家企业，这使得找到联邦快递信封并填写它不再是问题。
I put the envelope in the screen door, rang the doorbell, bolted away, and then sort of waited around a little while so I could casually make my way back into the house, coming through the garage door entrance so that nobody would suspect me.
我把信封放进纱门里，按响门铃，逃之夭夭，然后等了一会儿，这样我就可以轻松地回到房子，从车库门入口进来，这样就不会有人怀疑我了。
And the moment I walked into the house I knew that I had made a really, really bad decision.
当我走进房子的那一刻，我知道我做了一个非常非常错误的决定。
Amanda was still in bed when the letter arrived.
信到达时阿曼达还在床上。
The doorbell rings, and my mom went to get it.
门铃响了，妈妈去拿门。
I'm surprised she didn't fall down the stairs because she was running up frantically to me.
我很惊讶她没有从楼梯上摔下来，因为她正疯狂地向我跑来。
And, you know, just flew open my door, was like "It's here!
而且，你知道，我刚打开门，就感觉“就在这里！
It's here!" And woke me up, literally, like that.
就在这里！”然后就这样把我吵醒了。
And I remember then just sitting on my bed opening it.
我记得当时我只是坐在床上打开它。
And definitely very nervous, and of course my mom is hovering over me.
肯定非常紧张，当然我妈妈也在我身边徘徊。
And at that point I think my dad had come in.
就在那时我想我爸爸进来了。
So I open the letter and I remember reading it.
所以我打开这封信，我记得我读过它。
And, oh my gosh, what relief.
而且，天哪，真是如释重负。
Like, utter emotional relief.
就像，彻底的情绪缓解。
Thank god, I got in.
感谢上帝，我进去了。
And so there's this great elation, just such excitement and happiness.
所以就有了这种巨大的兴高采烈、兴奋和幸福。
And I don't even think I read the whole letter, actually, at that point.
事实上，我什至认为我当时没有读过整封信。
Because I was just like, you know, just a real sigh.
因为我只是，你知道，只是一声真正的叹息。
And my mom, of course, very thrilled and hugging me.
当然，我的妈妈非常兴奋并拥抱了我。
And then I see the little figure of my sister, Meg, coming up the top of the steps.
然后我看到我妹妹梅格的小身影走上台阶。
And I see her in the doorway looking very sort of meek.
我看到她站在门口，看上去很温顺。
I was completely terrified.
我完全被吓坏了。
I decided that the only solution was to come clean now.
我决定唯一的解决办法就是现在坦白。
I couldn't take the immense guilt.
我无法承受巨大的愧疚。
So I went upstairs and I said, feeling like I needed to somehow make light of it, somehow draw their attention to how funny this was, came out and said, it was me, I did it.
所以我上楼说，感觉我需要以某种方式淡化这件事，以某种方式引起他们的注意，这有多么有趣，我出来说，是我，我做到了。
You know, wacky smile and jazz hands.
你知道，古怪的微笑和爵士乐的双手。
As you can imagine, this didn't fly.
正如你可以想象的那样，这并没有飞起来。
The way her mom saw it, Megan had taken one of the biggest days of their lives, the day Amanda would get into college, and turned it into a joke.
在她妈妈看来，梅根把他们一生中最重要的日子之一，阿曼达上大学的那一天，变成了一个笑话。
My mom thought that I had just committed the most egregious sin that one could commit.
我妈妈认为我刚刚犯下了一个人可能犯下的最严重的罪行。
How sick are you that this would even enter into your mind?
你有多病啊，竟然会想到这种事？
This is not something that a normal person would do.
这不是一个正常人会做的事情。
Here's Amanda.
这是阿曼达。
Amanda Curtis My mom would say, how could you be so evil, how could you be so terrible, how could you hate your sister so much?
阿曼达·柯蒂斯 我妈妈会说，你怎么能这么邪恶，你怎么能这么可怕，你怎么能这么恨你的妹妹？
Things even like, you're not part of our family, where did you come from, that kind of abuse.
甚至于，你不是我们家的人，你从哪里来，那种虐待。
That definitely pounded into Meg's head that what she had done was really, really, really wrong.
梅格的脑海中清楚地意识到她所做的事情是真的、真的、真的错了。
I know Meg went into her room, and to be honest, I don't think she really came out of her room.
我知道梅格走进了她的房间，说实话，我不认为她真的从她的房间里出来。
You know, I mean, metaphorically speaking.
你知道，我的意思是，打个比方。
I think that was kind of a turning point for Meg that she really started to sort of shut herself off from a lot of us.
我认为这对梅格来说是一个转折点，她真的开始与我们很多人隔绝。
I felt awful about myself afterwards.
后来我对自己感觉很糟糕。
I had this serious guilt, and I cried, and I just went into this very serious depression.
我有一种严重的负罪感，我哭了，然后我陷入了非常严重的抑郁症。
I started wondering, maybe there is something wrong with me.
我开始怀疑，也许是我出了什么问题。
Why did I do this?
我为什么要这样做？
About a week after Megan's letter arrived at the door, Amanda got another acceptance letter from Davidson College.
梅根的信送达门口大约一周后，阿曼达又收到了戴维森学院的录取通知书。
This time, it was real.
这一次，是真的。
Megan was off the hook as far as her sister goes, but the situation with her mom was a little more complicated.
就她姐姐而言，梅根摆脱了困境，但她妈妈的情况有点复杂。
Actually, it still is.
事实上，现在仍然如此。
Even today, way after Megan has graduated from Vassar College, she still gets upset talking about all this.
即使在今天，梅根从瓦萨学院毕业很久之后，谈论这一切她仍然感到不安。
And when I ask Megan if I can interview her mom for the story, she said she didn't think her mom would want to talk about it much.
当我问梅根是否可以就这个故事采访她妈妈时，她说她认为她妈妈不想过多谈论这件事。
Megan was sure her mom was still just as mad about the letter as she had been years ago.
梅根确信她的妈妈仍然像几年前一样对这封信感到愤怒。
Which is why I was so surprised when her mother told me how she remembered it.
这就是为什么当她母亲告诉我她是如何记得这件事时，我感到非常惊讶。
I think of this as a funny time.
我认为这是一个有趣的时刻。
I don't think of this little prank of hers as being-- now, looking back on it, quite so evil as I did then.
我不认为她的这个小恶作剧——现在回想起来，还不如我当时那么恶毒。
It was funny, it is funny, it was funny.
这很有趣，这很有趣，这很有趣。
When you told Megan that she had done a horrible thing, did you feel bad about it, when you told her that?
当你告诉梅根她做了一件可怕的事情时，你是否感到难过？
Do you feel bad about it now?
你现在对此感到难过吗？
I probably was over the top.
我可能有点过头了。
I probably reacted more strongly than I would have, in retrospect.
回想起来，我的反应可能比我原本应该做的更强烈。
I'm sure I overreacted.
我确信我反应过度了。
When I told Megan what her mom said, she was floored.
当我告诉梅根她妈妈的话时，她大吃一惊。
OK, that's kind of shocking that she said that.
好吧，她这么说有点令人震惊。
I have always had the sense that she really felt like this was still a really bad thing to do.
我一直有一种感觉，她真的觉得这仍然是一件非常糟糕的事情。
And it wasn't funny in any way.
这无论如何都不好笑。
So what do you make of this?
那么你对此有何看法？
Megan Curtis I don't know.
梅根·柯蒂斯 我不知道。
I mean, I feel like she's making it up.
我的意思是，我觉得她正在弥补。
So you think she's lying?
所以你认为她在撒谎？
Megan Curtis Yeah, I think she's lying.
梅根·柯蒂斯 是的，我认为她在撒谎。
She didn't think it was funny, that's ridiculous.
她觉得这不好笑，这太可笑了。
So it sounds like you still have some resentment.
看来你还是有一些怨恨。
[LAUGHS] Well, you know, I mean, I guess I shouldn't if this is the way she really feels.
[笑]嗯，你知道，我的意思是，如果这是她真正的感受，我想我不应该这样做。
And I think you have to come to a point where you stop holding grudges against your parents.
我认为你必须停止对父母怀恨在心。
Megan's mom explains her behavior this way.
梅根的妈妈这样解释她的行为。
Back when she was choosing a college, she didn't look around for schools, nobody helped her.
当初选大学的时候，她没有到处找学校，也没有人帮助她。
She ended up choosing the school closest to the cousin's house where she would be eating Thanksgiving dinner.
她最终选择了离表弟家最近的学校，她将在那里吃感恩节晚餐。
She always regretted it, she says, and she wanted her kids to have something different.
她说，她一直很后悔，她希望她的孩子能拥有一些不同的东西。
I thought I was doing a great thing for my family.
我以为我正在为我的家人做一件伟大的事情。
I was doing for my children what I had wished that my parents had done for me.
我正在为我的孩子们做我希望我的父母为我做的事情。
I think they recognize the lengths that I went to get them to heights that I thought they could achieve.
我认为他们认识到我为让他们达到我认为他们可以达到的高度而付出的努力。
And they all got into excellent colleges and they all have done wonderful things that I'm proud of and that they're proud of.
他们都进入了优秀的大学，他们都做了很棒的事情，我为之感到自豪，他们也为之感到自豪。
Whether or not they think my part in it was an important part, I'm not sure.
我不确定他们是否认为我的角色很重要。
I wonder.
我想知道。
I wonder if they'll look back and say, wow, look at what mom did for us.
我想知道他们是否会回过头来说，哇，看看妈妈为我们做了什么。
Maybe they won't, I don't know.
也许他们不会，我不知道。
Megan's been telling the fake letter story for years.
梅根多年来一直在讲述假信的故事。
And for her, the moral is this-- look how crazy my mom acted with this college admissions stuff.
对她来说，寓意是这样的——看看我妈妈在大学招生的事情上表现得多么疯狂。
Recently, her mom started telling the story, too.
最近，她妈妈也开始讲这个故事。
And she draws the same conclusion as her daughter.
她也得出了和女儿一样的结论。
The story was about how over the top we were and how it took a little girl to bring us down to reality.
这个故事讲述了我们是多么的夸张，以及一个小女孩如何让我们回到现实。
I think that's what it's about.
我想这就是它的意义所在。
Not to say that we wouldn't do it the same way again.
并不是说我们不会再这样做。
Because I think basically we are who we are and even though we see the error of our ways, that doesn't mean we won't necessarily repeat them.
因为我认为基本上我们就是我们自己，即使我们看到了我们的方式的错误，但这并不意味着我们不一定会重复它们。
I'm already thinking of where my granddaughter might go to college.
我已经在考虑我的孙女可能去哪里上大学了。
I have a brand new granddaughter.
我有一个全新的孙女。
[LAUGHS] We've already started the piggy bank with the money in it, and talking-- she's three months old.
[笑]我们已经开始存钱罐了，里面有钱，而且说起来——她三个月大了。
Vassar College, expect a video for the class of 2022 any day.
瓦萨学院，随时期待 2022 届毕业生的视频。
Katia Dunn.
卡蒂亚·邓恩。
Her program was produced today by Sarah Koenig and myself with Alex Blumberg, Diane Cook, Wendy Dorr, Jane Feltes, and Lisa Pollak.
她的节目今天由 Sarah Koenig 和我与 Alex Blumberg、Diane Cook、Wendy Dorr、Jane Feltes 和 Lisa Pollak 共同制作。
Our senior producer is Julie Snyder.
我们的高级制片人是朱莉·斯奈德。
Elizabeth Meister runs our website.
伊丽莎白·梅斯特 (Elizabeth Meister) 负责运营我们的网站。
Production help from Todd Bachmann and Will Reichel.
托德·巴赫曼 (Todd Bachmann) 和威尔·赖切尔 (Will Reichel) 为制作提供帮助。
Special thanks today to [?
今天特别感谢[?
Fuan ?] Williams and Dmitri [?
福安？]威廉姆斯和德米特里[？
Schube ?].
舒贝？]。
Our web site, www.thisamericanlife.org, where you can listen to our programs absolutely free or buy CDs of them.
我们的网站 www.thisamericanlife.org，您可以在其中完全免费收听我们的节目或购买这些节目的 CD。
Or, you know, you can download today's program in our archives at audible.com/thisamericanlife.
或者，您知道，您可以在我们的档案库中下载今天的节目：audible.com/thisamericanlife。
This American Life is distrubted by Public Radio International.
这种美国生活被国际公共广播电台扰乱了。
[FUNDING CREDITS] WBEZ management oversight for our program by Mr. Torey Malatia.
[资金来源] Torey Malatia 先生对我们的项目进行 WBEZ 管理监督。
You know, people ask me all the time, what's he really like?
你知道，人们总是问我，他到底是什么样的人？
and I think they have finally figured out a way to get it across.
我认为他们终于找到了一种方法来传达这一点。
Imagine a tiny, little, white lady, with the temper and fashion sense of Mr. T, and you get the idea.
想象一下一位身材娇小的白人女士，有着T先生的脾气和时尚感，你就明白了。
I'm Ira Glass.
我是艾拉·格拉斯。
Back next week with more stories of This American Life.
下周我们将带来更多《美国生活》的故事。
This American Life is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago and delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange.
《This American Life》与 WBEZ Chicago 合作制作，并由 PRX 公共广播电台传送到各电台。